Rules for embedded

ball

Rules for embedded ball

When do I get relief for an embedded ball?  And How do I take relief?

The answer to these questions depends where your ball is embedded on the course.

First thing is understanding what the Rules mean by embedded. The Rules of Golf define embedded as when a player’s ball is in its own pitch mark that was made because of the player’s previous stroke.  A ball is not considered to be embedded if it is below the level of the ground because of anything other than the player’s previous stroke. If you step on your ball and it smashes into the ground, it is not embedded; if you swing at the ball and it does not become airborne and your club drives the ball into the ground, it is not embedded; or if you drop a ball on a mushy spot, it plops and remains below the ground-level surface, that ball is also not embedded.  In short, an embedded ball is the result of an airborne ball made through a stroke that when the ball lands it creates and stays its own pitch-mark below the level of the ground. 

Where your golf ball embeds also determines what type of relief is available, if any. Although a ball may embed anywhere on a course, what Area of the Course it embeds in dictates your options. 

This month’s article will be about embedded ball relief for a ball in the general area, or for a ball embedded on the putting green.  Heads up there is no free relief for balls that embed in a penalty area or in a bunker. Next month I’ll cover what your options are in those situations.

Let’s start with the easiest situation:  When your ball embeds on the putting green (remember this is the green of the hole you are playing)—you will get to repair damage on the green by marking the spot of the ball, lifting the ball, repairing the damage, then replacing the ball on its original spot. (If your ball embeds on a different green than the hole you are playing, you will proceed under the rule for Wrong Green).

If your ball embeds in the general area you take relief by finding the reference point (which is the spot directly behind where the ball is embedded), measure one club length from the reference point to create your relief area, which cannot be nearer the hole than your reference point, and must be in the general area. The ball must be dropped in and come to rest in the relief area. If your ball has embedded in the rough, and the fairway is within your one club length relief area, it is OK to drop in the fairway because both the rough and fairway are part of the general area! 

There are two exceptions for when you do not get relief for a ball embedded in the general area. There is no embedded ball relief for a ball that is embedded in sand in a part of the general area that is NOT cut to fairway height or less. There is also no relief when playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable because of something else from which a player is not entitled to take free relief from, like when a player would not be able to make a stroke because the ball became embedded out of reach under a bush.